The Tradition of Women's Autobiography

In this ground-breaking literary history, Estelle Jelinek traces starling consistencies in the way women have written about their lives from an early Roman memoir to contemporary American autobiographies. In fact, Jelinek establishes a distinctive tradition of women's autobiography that differs remarkably from men's autobiography in content, narrative form, and projected self-image. For all those interested in literature, history, and women's studies, The Tradition of Women's Autobiography challenges us to reevaluate the art of autobiography, enriching and expanding the genre's possibilities to include a women's tradition whose respected place in the literary history of the genre is long overdue.